Keyword: dreaming

He sees a renaissance attributable to the decline of the state’s Republican party. It is rare, even in the case of Paul Krugman, to read a column in which almost everything that is stated is either wrong or deliberately misleading. But his recent take on California’s renaissance is pure fantasy. I wish it weren’t. Krugman starts with the premise that California conservatives, the most prominent being Ronald Reagan, helped to turn the formerly moderate Republican party into the “radical right-wing organization we see today”; California, he believes, did more than the South to spawn the Religious Right. How absurd! Reagan...

Become a California state worker, preferably one who deals with neurotic and/or crazy people (i.e., a psychiatrist), and rake it in. The following chart from Bloomberg shows just how generous the otherwise insolvent state of California is when it comes to paying its public servants, and the 100%+ increase in California employee state pay since 2005. Needless to say, this is a rate of increase in compensation that 99% of workers in the private sector would die for. Some other stunning observations from Bloomberg on the best job taxpayer money can buy. The best paid job: psychiatrist. At this pace,...

The Poway Unified School District in California is facing a whopping $1 billion repayment on a loan of just $105 million. It borrowed the money using bonds that the state treasurer has compared to payday loans -- and more than 200 other California districts are in the same boat. More than 200 school districts across California are taking a second look at the high price of the debt they've taken on using risky financial arrangements. Collectively, the districts have borrowed billions in loans that defer payments for years — leaving many districts owing far more than they borrowed. In 2010,...

..Fueled by a bigger pile of campaign donations than most of his rivals, Perry is blitzing Iowa in a 42-town bus tour that enables him to personally deliver his campaign message and capitalize on his skills at retail politics. Team Perry is also saturating the state with radio and TV ads and plans to import hundreds of Texans, including Republican state officials and pro-Perry lawmakers, to woo caucus-goers. "We’re certainly hearing his name a lot with radio and TV commercials, probably a lot more than the other candidates," said Dr. Bill Davidson of Bettendorf in eastern Iowa. "I like the...

It’s now a three-way race before voting begins for the Republican presidential nomination. as either Newt Gringrich, Mitt Romney, or Rick Perry will be the GOP standard-bearer to challenge President Obama. The same pundits that have confidently miscalled the GOP race all along are now declaring it’s a two-way race between former Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Governor Mitt Romney. They’re wrong. Either man might be the nominee, but not necessarily. Romney is the former frontrunner. He’s educated, polished, and has tremendous private-sector success and some high-level public experience. He even has a picturesque family. But a majority of Republican...

Palin warned us that if she ever makes a run for the presidency, it would be unconventional. She warned that she doesn't look too kindly to season inside-beltway hirings. She said that she hated the long drawn out running forever campaigns. People may be supporters of other candidates around here and like to beat Palin supporters up with that "she isn't running"...."give it up, she all about making money" theme but it's clear now that she has planned on running for a long time, she and her staff just decided not to tell the media through leaks or buddy-buddy exposes'...

On our TV Show, “Angel And The Wiz” that airs Wednesday May 25th at 4 PM on MNN.org Channel 2, (56) I will formally announce my endorsement of Sarah Palin for President in 2012.I am doing this whether she announces or not because I am voting for her whether she runs or not.My reasons for endorsing her are as follows.Courage: No one, Including Richard Nixon, has been pummeled like our Sarah. Through all the attacks on her and her family, she has shown the courage of a lion, and always handled it with the grace and propriety we would expect...

Sarah Palin unleashed a withering critique of congressional Republicans Saturday, lambasting them for not cutting spending deeper and faster, and saying the party needs to “fight like a girl.” "We didn’t elect you just to rearrange the deck chairs on a sinking Titanic," Palin said during a rally in front of the Wisconsin statehouse in Madison. "What we need from you, GOP, is to fight." Pointing to the national champion University of Wisconsin women's hockey team, Palin said the GOP could learn from its resolve and “needs to learn how to fight like a girl."

There are directions on the Internet on how to reach conscious dreaming. There are sites that tell you how to induce conscious dreaming through drug use. Yet with all of the discussions on Jared Loughner, very few pundits discuss his use of conscious dreaming or controlled hallucinations. Why?

With Christmas fast approaching, even America's First Lady has to help out with a few festive tasks. And today, Michelle Obama pitched in to make seasonal decorations and treats after unveiling the newly decorated White House to specially invited guests from military families. 'It’s Christmas. It’s exciting!' she told the assembled press before helping her younger guests make festive crafts and cards.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama assailed North Korea Monday for new missile tests, saying the world must "stand up to" Pyongyang and demand that it honor a promise to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid watched Hillary Clinton endorse Barack Obama on Saturday and wholeheartedly approved. "I watched every word of it. I thought it was excellent," the Nevada Democrat said of Clinton's speech in Washington, D.C., which marked the official suspension of the New York senator and former first lady's presidential campaign. "I just think she did such a nice job passing the ball off for Obama." Wary of harming relationships in the Senate, Reid waited almost as long as Clinton to get behind Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and freshman senator from Illinois. Reid officially came...

Q: What causes sleep paralysis? Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I can’t move or speak. It feels like someone is holding me down. Finally I just go back to sleep. A: Sleep paralysis is caused by a timing delay between our brain and body. It leads to an awareness of being awake, yet is accompanied by a frightening inability to move our arms or legs, utter a single word or cry out for help. It may be accompanied by unexplained sights and sounds, or even a feeling that someone else is in the room....

WASHINGTON - By dropping off the ballot, Republican Tom DeLay may have given a boost to a Libertarian candidate in the race for the former majority leader's House seat. Bob Smither said voters in the Houston-area district have been pledging support in phone calls. He also said he has seen a spike in contributions as the GOP wrangled over who to back as a write-in candidate. Smither now thinks there's possibility in a once-near impossible situation. "Clearly the fact Mr. DeLay has been removed from the ballot is a huge benefit to me," he said. "This is a very conservative...

Lieberman and the War 08/09 11:31 AM The "experts," i.e., anyone on TV, tell us that the Lieberman-Lamont race was about one issue and one issue only — the war. Well, then, since 48 percent of the Democrats voted for Lieberman, I guess 48 percent support the war. The national Democrats better hope that's not the case — Connecticut being a blue state — or their dreams of electoral victory in November and beyond will be just that ... dreams.

According to Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer, the elections were "in many respects, a referendum on the president more than anything else." If so, President Bush has strong support in the Democratic Party since Lieberman received 48 Percent of the vote…

Daniel Defoe is best remembered today for creating the ultimate escapist fantasy, "Robinson Crusoe," but in 1727 he sent the British public into a scandalous fit with the publication of a nonfiction work called "Conjugal Lewdness: or, Matrimonial Whoredom." After apparently being asked to tone down the title for a subsequent edition, Defoe came up with a new one — "A Treatise Concerning the Use and Abuse of the Marriage Bed" — that only put a finer point on things. The book wasn't a tease, however. It was a moralizing lecture.[snip] The sex act and sexual desire should not be...

Wollemi rock art shows Aboriginal Dreaming Judy Skatssoon ABC Science Online Friday, 2 December 2005 Some of the rock art found in Wollemi National Park is believed to represent paths associated with Dreamtime beings, such as the eagle ancestor (Image: Paul Taçon) Archaeologists surveying rugged bushland outside Sydney have discovered evidence that an ancient Aboriginal Dreaming track runs through wilderness where the Jurassic-era Wollemi Pine was found. Dreaming tracks record the journey of spirit ancestors as they moved through the landscape, transforming ancestral lands and laying down the laws. Around 1000 known tracks are believed to exist, mainly in central...

I realize we have not even arrived at the point where we can seriously consider the midterm elections in 2006. But even the thought of them, and then beyond, forces me to seriously consider 2008. If the midterms go as I expect, then 2008 is inevitable. Everything I said seems to be coming true. Kerry lost because of his own arrogance and the Democrats inability to respond to the shoot from the hip, hard line, inflexible Republican style. It was not yet fashionable to embrace the Tortise while the Hare was making his dash for the second of many finish...

Investor's Business Daily A True Master Of Invention Tuesday September 21, 7:00 pm ET Brian Deagon Ray Kurzweil believes that to be successful, he has to look far into the future. And the only way to do that well is to try to understand the past. "At the age of 5, I decided I would be an inventor and by age 12 I was heavily involved with computers," Kurzweil recalled recently. "I quickly realized that timing was the most important thing to invention. Most inventions fail because the timing is wrong." In order to get the timing right, Kurzweil became...

TODAY'S ICONOCLAST FEATURED COMMENTARY BAGHDAD BOB AND THE DEATH OF PROPAGANDAThe Wild Whoppers of Iraq's Weird and Wacky Minister of Information by Lin Anderson "Who are you going to believe," goes the old joke. "Me, or your own eyes and ears?" That could well provide a decent and fitting epitaph for Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, Iraq's Minister of Information, although we harbor hope that he lives many years beyond the war. We sort of admire his hard-headed stubbornness to admit defeat -- indeed, not to accept anything other than sweet, sweet victory, 24 hours a day. He's one of a...

The Macker [DNC Chair McAuliffe] was due to add the following comments this morning at the Presidential Primary 'Politcs and Eggs' breakfast in Beford, New Hampshire.'Given this pattern, [of Lott's repeated racial statements] it is simply not credible for Senator Lott to continue to assert that the comments that he made in support of Senator Thurmond's segregationist campaign were anything more 'than a poor choice of words.' Sadly, it would rather appear that these comments reflect Senator Lott's true prejudices on race.''The time has come for leaders of the Republican Party to speak out against Senator Lott's remarks. I call...

Bay Area lawmakers look to push bills againWith Republicans in controlBy Lisa FriedmanWASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- They began the 107th Congress hoping to expand health care coverage, increase funding for renewable energy research and force federal agencies to buy fair-trade coffee. Overshadowed by the threat of terrorism and crippled by membership in a powerless political party, few Bay Area lawmakers' legislative priorities passed in the previous session. With Republicans holding an even tighter reign on power in the upcoming term that begins in January -- and all but one of Bay Area's representatives in Congress being Democrats and mostly liberal...